Ledger balance-sheet.



No. 629,404. Patented luIy 25, |899.

H. SWALLEY.

LEDGER BALANCE SHEET.

(Application led June 27, 1898.) (No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT UEEICE.

HENRY SVVALLEY, OF MILVAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

LEDG ER BALANCE-SHEET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 629,404, dated July 25, 1899.

Application filed J'une 27, 1898. Serial No. 684,546. (No model.)

To @ZZ who/1t t may concern,.-

Be it known that I, HENRY SWALLEY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ledger Balance- Sheets; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to balance-sheets used particularly in connection with bank-ledgers; and it consists in certain peculiarities of con struction and combination of parts, as will bev fully set forth hereinafter and subsequently claimed.

In the drawings, Figure lis a plan View of the device embodying my present invention, partially broken away to bet-ter illustrate certain details of construction. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view on the line 2 2 of Fig. l; Fig. 3 is an under side plan View of the removable sheet. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view on the line 4 4 of Fig. l.

Referring to t-he drawings, A represents a casing or pocket adapted to be either permanently or temporarily boundinto aledger, (aocording as the latter is to bea permanent or loose-leaf ledger,) there being a series of these casings or pockets Vdistributed at intervals through the book, with any suitable or desired number of regular ledger-leaves between said casings or pockets. These pockets A are preferably formed of any suitable textile fabric, although they may be made of met-al or of paper or cardboard, if desired, and in that case are preferably lined on the inner surfaces With suitable thin textile fabric, and the exterior surfaces of said pockets or casings may, if desired, have suitable rulings thereon, as shown.

B represents a transverse strip of cardboard or other suitable material forming a back stop for the hereinaftendescribed extensionslide C, said strip B also constituting the base or inner termination of the pocket proper, A, and beyond this the inner extension of said pocket consists of a stub D, (preferably of textile fabric,) adapted to be bound either permanently or temporarily, as described, within the ledger and forming a flexible hinge for said pocket or casing.

The slide C may be made of any suitable material, good thick cardboard being well adapted for the purpose. The rear or inner part is shouldered, as shown at b l), for engagement with the front stops c c, secured -just within the outer or front edge of the pocket A at top and bottom, as shown in Fig. 1, the remainder of the slide C in front of the shouldered portions b b being reduced in transverse width, so as to readily slide be tween the said stops c c.

E is a skeleton frame, which maybe of sheet-brass, aluminium, or tin-plate or other suitable material, the vertical rear edge d of said skeleton frame being preferably the widest and being securely fastened to the slide, as by pins or rivets e e, and the front vertical edge f being open, while the top and bottom horizontal edges g and h are preferably bent over the top and bottom edges of the slide C, and there being a central vertical strip t and a central horizontal stripj to said skeleton frame, which latter is further secured to the slide C by a central guide-pin k, the strips f, t', and j being free' from the slide to enable the latter to receivev(beneath the said strips and the front edge of the rear vertical strip d of the frame) the removable balance-sheets F. These sheets (an under side view of one of which is shown in Fig. 3) are preferably of cardboard, ruled for amounts of Deposits, Overdrafts, and Balance, this portion of the upper surface of said sheetbeing preferably provided with a silicious or similar coating, and beyond this the said sheet is further ruled for the Acct No. and Name, all as clearly shown in Fig. l.

In place of using silicated cardboard the entire sheet F may be of cellulose or other material having a readily-erasable surface, but the described material is preferable, as being of small cost, besides which the account-number and name are intended to be permanently written in ink, while the entries upon the first three named ruled columns are intended to be made with a lead-pencil, and hence the partly-silicated sheets of cardboard are usually most desirable. These sheets F are formed with a central horizontal slit or opening therein, extending from one edge to IOO F to pass on each side of the guide-pin 7c, said guide-pin facilitating the putting of the said sheet in proper position beneath the described skeleton frame E.

The extension-slide C is provided with a suitable projecting tag n', either made integrally therewith or firmly attached thereto, to aid in the withdrawal of said slide from its pocket or its replacement within the same, said tag being marked with the appropriate index letter or letters, as shown.

A simple clamp 0, of spring metal, serves to hold the exposed front edges of the slide C, sheet F, and skeleton frame E all in close con'- tact, as shown, and can be readily removed when a change of the sheet F is desirable.

The operation of my device will be readily understood from the foregoing description of its construction taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. In Fig. l the extension-slide O (with balan ce-sheet F thereon) is shown as being drawn out to its fullest extent, with the shoulders o b of the slide in engagement with the front stops c c of the pocket A to enable the proper entries to be made in the first three columns of the said sheet F, after which the slide C is pushed back to place until it strikes the back stop B. As these entries are to be made with a lead-pencil, (upon the silicated surface of the sheet F,) they can be very readily erased when the next days business requires changes in the balance, and the premature or accidental erasure or blurring of the said lead-pencil entries (which would otherwise be liable to occur from the frequent drawing out and return of the slide C and sheet F thereon and consequent rubbing of the upper surface of said sheet against the inner surface of the upperpart of the pocket A) is guarded against by the protection afforded by the described skeleton frame E. 1

The most convenient method of using my device is to have the accounts alphabetically arranged by name, one or two letters to a sheet, and therefore as the balances (or overdrafts) are corrected at the close of business each day in the appropriate colu mns the standing ot' any account can be instantly determined by pulling out the slide C having the proper index-letter, and if any change is necessary this can be very quickly made in the manner indicated and the slide pushed back to place, thereby saving a great deal of time otherwise consumedin turning over the leaves of the ledger until the account in question is found, and by reason of the use of the pockets A the ledger may be of the ordinary width, the said pockets coming Iiush with the regular ledger-leaves, and hence my device is more compact and convenient than it would be if the balance-sheets were permanently exposed to view, and a further advantage over such permanently-exposed balan ce-sheets lies in the fact that with my device the leadpencil entries are less liable to accidental erasure or blurring, and said balance-sheets are never in the Vway when entries are to be made on the regular ledger-leaves or when the latter are to be examined.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters l. The combination with a casing or pocket adapted to be bo und in or secured to a ledger, of a slide movable therein, means for preventing the complete withdrawal of said slide, a skeleton frame secured to said slide, and a removable entry-sheet held in place upon the said slide beneath the said skeleton frame.

.2. The combination with a casing or pocket adapted to be bound in or secured to aledger, and havinga transverse back stop and upper and lower front stops, within said casing or pocket, of an extension-slide having upper and lower rear shouldered portions for engagement with said front stops, a skeleton frame secured to saidslide and open at its front edge,and a removable entry-sheet adapted to be h'eld in place on said slide beneath the said skeleton frame, and formed with a silicions or analogous coating upon a portion of its upper surface.

3. The combination with a casing or pocket adapted to be bound in, or secu red to a ledger, of an extension-slide movable within said pocket, a skeleton frame secured to said slide at the rear. of the frame, aguide-pin connecting the said slide and frame at the center of the latter, and a removable entry-sheet adapted to be held in place between the said slide and frame, and formed with a central horizontal slit or opening extending inwardly from the rear edge of the said sheet for the recept-ion of the shank of the said guide-pin.

4L.. The combination with a rigid casing or pocket of a flexible stub adapted to be bound in or secured to a ledger, a slide movable in said pocket, stops for preventing the complete withdrawal of said slide, a skeleton frame secured to said slide, and a removable entry-sheet adapted to be held in place upon said slide beneath said skeleton frame.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, at Newkirk, in the county of Kay and Territory ot' Oklahoma, inthe presence of two witnesses.

HENRY SWALLEY.

Witnesses: JOHN SWALLEY, J. S. EASTMAN.

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